


Qualifications

by skidblast



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime
Genre: Gen, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Medical Procedures, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-11-09
Packaged: 2018-02-20 09:58:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2424482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skidblast/pseuds/skidblast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of what happened shortly after Bumblebee lost his voice is not just his story, but also the story of the doctor who tried and failed to help when Bumblebee needed it the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Assessment

**Author's Note:**

> Probably one of hundreds of "How Bee lost his voice" stories that are out there. But I hope you enjoy!

Ratchet hadn't been a part of the mission at Tyger Pax, but he was still a vital part of it. He and few others had erected a makeshift triage facility near the Well of Allspark in a highly defensible position surrounded by autobot troops. While it had been thought that the Decepticons wouldn't have a chance to reach the Allspark, the radio chatter during the mission had proved otherwise. It had been a close call, but now the Allspark was no longer on Cybertron, far from the reach of Megatron and his followers, even though it also meant that it was far from the reach of Autobots. Now there were truly limited numbers of Autobots and Decepticons, and those who had not chosen any sides.

"Springer just contacted us." First Aid said. "Five minutes out, and they got five with moderate injuries, one critically injured and several with minor injuries."

"Thank you." Ratchet said as he set about to prepare the slabs and equipment. "Did they say anything about the one in critical?" He asked.

"Got cratered by a seeker. Seemingly still alert but unresponsive." First Aid said. "Left leg hanging on by hope alone and arms weak."

"Wreckers." Ratchet spat out. Sometimes they got a bit too poetic when it came to descriptions of injuries, and the first statement didn't make much sense. It was likely that no one on the mission had been properly trained in advanced first aid.

First one to arrive was Springer. Ambulon was quick to admit him in and tend to his scorch marks and bent rotor blades. But the next arrivals Ultra Magnus and Ironhide. Ultra Magnus had his trailer attached. Even before Ultra Magnus had stopped Cliffjumper came out of it, carrying Bumblebee. Ironhide quickly joined him.

"Here!" Ratchet pointed to the medical slab he had prepared. He had seen the yellow scout from time to time, but this was the worst state he had seen him in. Even the first encounter they and Prime had with Starscream had not left him in this kind of state.

Ratchet quickly looked over Bumblebee. It was clear that he couldn't put much weight with his arms, likely caused by heavy blaster fire on the chest that weakened the shoulder connections. Easily fixed. The leg would need some reconstruction, but not total replacement. 

But as looking over the yellow scout closer, Ratchet noticed the neck. Very crushed, but fuel lines were not severed or else he would have been offline a while ago. This was no blaster fire, this had been an up close and personal attack on Bumblebee.

"First Aid!" Ratchet called for the younger medical bot. "I need you to block the neurotransmitters in the leg and stabilize it." While Bumblebee was the one most injured stabilizing him was easy enough. He had been strong enough to survive the blast from the seeker, but it was the neck that Ratchet was worried about. There were far too many critical systems with links in the neck, and it was a miracle that Bumblebee could still function. Only the front of the neck had been crushed.

Ratchet removed some of the damaged panels in the neck and gently pushed aside the cables to see the extent of the injuries in the neck. And what he saw wasn't pretty. The voicebox was crushed beyond recognition. He only knew that it was the voicebox because of where it was. He glanced back to the leg where First Aid was working on it. That was going to be saved. But the voicebox? Ratchet continued working on making sure that everything else in the neck was attached properly and he plugged in some of the minor leaks and patched some of the cables. Once finished Ratchet's hands wandered back to the voicebox, but he stopped himself. 

And he went to the near-crushed chest. Fixing the voicebox could wait, no one could afford letting Bumblebee's condition deteriorate, so getting him back into shape took priority. A quick check beneath the chest armor revealed a series of issues which Ratchet tackled, one by one. The weak arms were just part of the problem, and some of the issues could have triggered spark failure had Ratchet focused on the voicebox.

It took a while, but Ratchet could finally afford to get some rest after working. But the throat still laid open, showing that crushed voicebox. First Aid had stabilized the leg a while ago and had moved to the other patients. Ratchet noticed that everyone was stable and didn't require immediate attention, so he looked back to the issue of the voicebox. But it looked worse than he had seen earlier. Maybe if he had focused on it when Bumblebee came maybe there had been something to salvage. But now it was one of those rare moments when Ratchet wasn't sure.

"Once you're done with this I want you to give me your opinion on the voicebox." Ratchet said to First Aid. First Aid looked up, and even for the visor and the faceplate he showed this puzzled look. There was no question about Ratchet's superiority when it came to the medibay, so asking First Aid his opinion on something was something rare indeed. First Aid quickly closed up few circuits before he silently looked at the throat.

"I'm sorry to say it Ratchet, but I've never seen this extensive damage before." First Aid said.

"Got any idea on how to proceed with this?" Ratchet asked.

"I would imagine you got a better idea than I do." First Aid said. "But I don't see any saving this, it's too delicate. What is your plan?" He asked Ratchet.

Ratchet looked over it again, hoping so much that he would see something he had overlooked. The time he spent looking was apparently too much as he heard First Aid fidget behind him, looking over Bee's body and past that to the others requiring some attention later today.

"I don't have anything." Ratchet said. "I worked with him once." He added. "We and Optimus, before he became a Prime, were trying to restore the communications network at the Decagon. Even as we fought Starscream there Bumblebee kept on with the wisecracks. I don't know how he'll be without his voice."

"Maybe you don't know him that well." First Aid said. "Maybe he'll just bounce back. But we won't know until he recovers." He never thought he would have to reassure the more experienced bot, who had probably seen more bots die than First Aid had saved but still have far better life saving ratio than he did.

"I'll work on making Bumblebee as fit as he can." Ratchet said. "You and Ambulon work on the others. If anything happens feel free to interrupt me."

"Of course." First Aid said as he moved over to Roadbuster to test the neuro connections in his newly reattached arm.


	2. Breaking the news

Very few things could surprise Ratchet. But when he felt something strike him in the back he was surprised. He had been working on few reports but he dropped the datapad and turned around on the spot, his blades at the ready. But his assailant was no decepticon. Bumblebee sat on his medical slab, glaring at Ratchet for not having paid attention to him in the first place. Ratchet retracted his blades and took up his datapad before making his way to Bumblebee.

"Bumblebee -" Ratchet said but before he could continue Bumblebee's hands quickly flew to his throat, his fingers hovering but clawing scant inches from the throat. It looked like Bumblebee was very well aware of his incapability of speech, and the reason for why it was.

"The damage was too extensive." Ratchet said, and he saw those eyes twitching and the mouth slightly agape as Bumblebee realized what was being said, as any hope he had left was now disappearing in an instant. Bumblebee buried his head in his hands and leaned down, not willing to face anyone, including himself.

Ratchet reached out and put his hand on Bumblebee's shoulder. But the contact was short-lived as Bumblebee quickly raised his other hand, slamming away Ratchet's hand with a quick sharp motion. 

"Bumblebee -" Ratchet didn't know what to say. His bedside manners were lacking, and crippling injuries were not that common. If Decepticons managed to cripple someone they either took them prisoner or executed them. Ratchet wondered why that wasn't the case with Bumblebee given that the damage to his voicebox had been deliberate.

Bumblebee removed his hands from his face and quickly gripped Ratchet's datapad. Bumblebee deftly moved his fingers across it, quickly finding where he could write on it. He handed Ratchet back the datapad.

 _//Give me my voice//_ It simply said. Ratchet looked at the pad, reading the message over and over. His fears were confirmed. Bumblebee needed his voice as much as Ratchet needed his medic hands.

Ratchet tried to find the words to say but it was apparent that how he acted was all the clue Bumblebee needed to know what was going on. Bumblebee ripped the datapad from Ratchet's hands and threw it across the room in anger.

"There was nothing that could be done." Ratchet continued, trying not to let it show that he was upset by the outburst. It wasn't often that Ratchet just couldn't fix something outright. And it hit him hard, though not as hard as the loss of the voice Bumblebee got. "I restructured it so it would feel the same, there is some internals that are still there but none of it could restore your voice." Ratchet stood up to collect the datapad Bumblebee had thrown away, but even before he was halfway across the room he heard a whirr of a tired transformation cog, and he turned around just in time to see Bumblebee driving out of the triage facility.

"Bumblebee!" Ratchet called but it wasn't enough to bring Bumblebee back. He ran to the side room where Ambulon and First Aid were resting. 

"Bumblebee just drove off." Ratchet said as he woke up Ambulon. "I need you to supervise the clinic while I bring him back." He didn't even wait for Ambulon to say something coherent before he turned around and transformed.

Ratchet could never catch up to the scout in a fair race. But it wasn't one. Bumblebee was still recovering from a blast from a seeker that had struck him in the chest and leg. But he was also a trained scout. One of the best the Autobots had aside from Cliffjumper. Ratchet drove on the near-empty streets. This was Autobot territory and no real chance of Decepticon ambush so he could drive freely without trouble. But he was afraid that Bumblebee would try something stupid.

Ratchet quickly put out an announcement that Bumblebee was still weak from the attack on him and to let him know if anyone saw him. After few minutes he slowed down. He had no trail, Bumblebee had too much speed on him and too much skill that he could sniff him out. Ratchet transformed to his robot mode and looked around properly and called Bumblebee's name. It took him few seconds to realize that he would not have any answer from the scout, at least no verbal answer. After looking around for a minute, he transformed again and headed to the triage facility.

Halfway to it the yellow scout joined him. They drove together in silence, Ratchet terrified that if he spoke he would spook Bumblebee and he would make a run for it again. But he didn't drive off again. The two of them drove together to the facility, and Bumblebee didn't even look at Ratchet as he went back to the recharge slab he woke up on.

Ratchet ignored confused Ambulon and cancelled the alert for Bumblebee. He found the datapad again and picked it up. It was broken from the impact. Ratchet put it aside to be fixed by a technician later and picked up another datapad. Few commands on it and he locked it to most functions but writing ones, and he went over to Bumblebee.

"Use this to communicate." Ratchet said. "Press this button for an audio alert." He simply said. "Ambulon is on shift now. Let him know if you need anything." Ratchet watched as Bumblebee looked at the datapad, and then at Ratchet again. But he wasn't writing anything nor did he seem to want to say anything and he looked at the floor again.

"Who did this to you?" Ratchet finally asked. No one had known what happened, only that Bumblebee and Cliffjumper had unintentionally ended up protecting the Wreckers' flank position and they had gotten separated.

Bumblebee looked up at Ratchet for a moment before he wrote something quick on the pad. _//Megatron//_

"Megatron?" Ratchet repeated. He hadn't even heard that he had been there. "And you survived?"

Bumblebee, in perhaps the worst kind of gesture that could be done at the moment, shook his head. He typed some more and showed Ratchet.

_// **Megatron** : I can kill when I please, and grant mercy when I please. But there is a cost//_

Ratchet now understood. Megatron had achieved so many victories in this war. But the Autobots had always endured, always survived, and always had victories on their own. But this time Megatron wouldn't even look at this as a victory, but it was a devastating defeat for Bumblebee.

"Rest. Recover." Ratchet said. He didn't have anything to say. He made a note to call for Rung tomorrow, one of the few Autobot psychiatrists that were still around. Bumblebee was most definitely going to need his help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Megatron's quote is lifted from a short story from Alex Irvine found [here](http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/06/22/exclusive-learn-how-bumblebee-lost-his-voice-in-this-short-story-from-exodus-author-alex-irvine/). (LINK OPENS IN THIS WINDOW)


	3. Briefing

The Triage facility had been dismantled, and as Bumblebee had been the only one not fully recovered he had been transferred to the Deltaran medical facility due to Ratchet's orders. Bumblebee was not responding to Rung's therapy regime, and he was not handling having to communicate with datapads all the time.

But Ratchet was not with him right now. He wasn't actually in the medical facility, but in the heart of Autobot city, in a conference room where Ratchet had a clear look at where the Arc was being constructed. He was perhaps alone in enjoying the view, something he hadn't seen before, but he wasn't alone in the room. He turned around and took a seat at the table next to Kup.

"Ratchet?" Optimus Prime asked. It appeared that everyone had been waiting for him. Also in the room was Prowl, Springer and Ironhide. It was clear that the small yellow scout was apparently very important part of the Autobot cause, or else they wouldn't be having this meeting to begin with, or at the very least with some who weren't as important.

"Bumblebee is physically fine, it's going to take him few more days before his leg is back to normal, but he can assume alt-mode and use it without problems." Ratchet began. "However it is impossible to restore his voice back to the way it was."

"A scout who can't report in is useless to us." Prowl said.

"And no one is more aware of that than Bumblebee." Ratchet said. "But he still wants to be of use. However the problem is obvious. Losing his voice has hit him hard, too hard."

"If the kid wants to fight we should let him." Ironhide crossed his arms. "We've promoted bots younger than him to warrior class."

"Of appropriate frames." Springer quickly interjected. "While I do admit Bumblebee saved my life and the lives of the Wreckers that day, his actual fighting skills leave much to be desired. He was disabled in one blast."

"From a Seeker." Kup gritted his teeth. "And from what I heard it was Starscream who delivered that blow."

"Ratchet, your personal opinion?" Optimus asked Ratchet.

"My professional opinion," Ratchet quickly corrected Optimus. "is that Bumblebee needs time to recover from the mental trauma. The loss of his voice has affected him in ways he himself can't fathom. I would not recommend any duty for him until he accepts it."

Kup laughed. "I've seen a whole lot of traumatized bots who are still fighting, and your pitch won't work with anyone here."

"Ironhide, you really believe he's ready for the duties and demands of being a warrior?" Optimus quickly changed tactics but Ratchet's words were still repeating in his audials.

"To be honest, no." Ironhide said. "Bumblebee is going to get killed the moment he stops sneaking around and scouting. Maybe if we paired him with some orphan Targetmaster -"

"Impossible." Kup said. "Those minicons have an intensive bond. While Ricochet survived Quickmix' death, he has not accepted anyone else and has been working solo. I doubt we would ever convince him to partner up with anyone else."

"There is also the logistics problem as well." Prowl huffed. "Targetmasters are not really trained to notice the little details like scouts are, and that would mean any Targetmaster we would pair Bumblebee would serve as a glorified mouthpiece for Bumblebee. Which just means it is easier to figure out how to let Bumblebee send messages instead of pairing him with someone else."

"Any possibility of a data-burst messaging?" Optimus asked, directing his question to no one in particular but laid it for anyone to answer.

"Not really." Springer said. "That kind of communication has too weak encryption and would be too easy to pinpoint, especially given the reliance of having to get the complete message. Voice communications still remain as our strongest opinion."

Ratchet tapped his fingers as he had an idea. It wasn't perhaps the best one when it came to having to relay messages and intel, but it was still something, and he figured it was the option that would be the most beneficial for Bumblebee. As the others seemed to be going into the details of secure transmission, Ratchet quickly worked out what needed to be done.

"What if we gave him a voice?" Ratchet said, louder than usual but he had to, in order to be heard by the others as they were raising their voices as arguing schematics.

"I thought that was impossible." Optimus said, giving Ratchet the floor as he swept his arm in a signal for the others to be silent for a moment.

"A voice. Just not his voice." Ratchet clarified. "The voicebox was damaged beyond repairs, but not beyond basic reconstruction."

"Basic as in -" Springer asked though he was a bit hesitant.

"Everyone knows the minicon shorthand." Ratchet said. "It's simple but you can still say what you want in even shorter time than our basic language. It can use the same transmission protocols so that eliminates that problem."

"I don't like it." Prowl said. "Even some minicons are capable of regular speech, don't you think it would be too demeaning for Bumblebee to be reduced to their level?"

"Prowl." Optimus warned the strategist. Prowl met his glare head on and few seconds passed before he looked away. For Optimus it didn't feel like victory. Prowl was a bit too cunning for that. But he dismissed any thoughts on if this had been a deliberate move from Prowl.

"This is all up to Bumblebee." Ratchet continued, not letting the distraction get to him. "He has to decide if he wants this. I'll need to confer with Fixit for the changes to be made, and it would be best if the operation would be done at his facility."

"Let a minicon tend to him, at a minicon medical facility." Kup chuckled, but he hadn't made the comment out of malice but more out of the absurdity of it.

"They've had no problems tending to larger bots before." Ratchet said. "Fixit will know better what we'll need to do if Bumblebee agrees to this."

"Very well," Optimus nodded. "We'll take this course of action if Bumblebee permits. Ratchet, set it in motion." He waved his hand slightly to dismiss Ratchet. There were few other things he had to discuss with the others and Ratchet was happy not to participate in that. His duty was with any of the injured or sick and not in meetings or planning. Ratchet stood up and with a final glance to the Arc in construction, he headed out.


	4. Preparation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: I'm picturing Fixit as the G1 minicon and not the RID15 version.

Bee had agreed on the operation. Ratchet thought he would have to put some token effort into convincing him, and he honestly thought that Bumblebee would reject the idea. But it appeared that Bumblebee had seen that unless he had some way to continue doing his job, being a scout, he wasn't going to be of much use, and he wanted to rather have a voice that wasn't his own rather than staying on the sidelines. 

Ratchet waxed a bit philosophical as he considered the reasons why. Bumblebee was one of the last ones who had come out of the Allspark, into a world that was deeply ravaged by war already. Of course the worst had not yet come to past when he came online, but was the Allspark making soldiers and mechs that thought that fighting was the only thing they could do? What kind of prospects did that mean then when the war was over? Would those who came online during the war even know how to function in peacetime?

Ratchet cycled air and listened to the vents and filters. Nothing wrong with his systems, but it was good to do this from time to time, and it was also a relaxing gesture. Ratchet brushed aside his thoughts as he headed to the meeting room.

Fixit was the only one in it. It was one of the few non-medical rooms that were large enough to house a regular mech in the minicon medical facility. A holograph of Bumblebee's voicebox in its current condition dominated the room.

"Well then." Ratchet took a long good look at the hologram. His adjustments to it were clearly visible, all the small welding seams he had done so that the voicebox wouldn't be causing constant pain.

"Too bad Glit joined the Decepticons, he would be very interested in this operation." Fixit said and turned the hologram as he was studying some part of it. "This is going to take a while." He added. Fixit was one of the few minicons that could actually vocalize in the regular Cybertronian language instead of using the shorthand the minicons shared. And for Ratchet, that make him feel more comfortable.

"Unfortunately time is not one of the luxuries we have." Ratchet said, ignoring the comment about the beast-looking minicons. So many of them had joined Megatron as the council had ignored their needs over the needs of those that they could empathize with better, regular looking mechs. The medical facility they were in pre-dated the war, though it had gone through changes to admit regular mechs on regular basis.

"But we're going to have to take our time with this, war or not." Fixit continued. "I see already where we can build on the voicebox, get everything aligned so that it will only take some adjustments instead of full blown surgery to get him to vocalize properly."

"One big surgery?" Ratchet looked at the hologram.

"And then adjustments and recovery." Fixit added. "This is at least my recommendation." His tone clearly showed the offense behind it. 

"It will take a while." Ratchet said. "And we're going to need a lot of practice for this."

"I'm already manufacturing the model voicebox to practice on." Fixit said. "I can see three ways we can go about this -" The two doctors began talking in earnest about the operation, about all the steps that were needed to take. There was also the time management, whom to bring in to the operation, who would be there on standby in case anyone operating had something happening suddenly, or had to personally deal with other operations. Ratchet though wowed that unless Optimus Prime himself was gravely injured he would take the majority of the operation shift.

In the days prepping the surgery, get the doctors and nurses ready at the day of the operation and clear their calendar. Ratchet had even heard some ops were being delayed so that there wouldn't be any sudden stress on the medical wing of the Autobot on the day of Bumblebee's operation.

While Ratchet was practicing so was Bumblebee. Ratchet hadn't known until after couple of days that Bumblebee was sparring with some of the warriors. Nothing that would injure him but still something that Ratchet didn't really approve of. Bumblebee had to rely on the others to pay attention to his own state rather than him being able to say when he had enough. It worried Ratchet, as Bumblebee was already stretched to the max, especially after recovering from such grievous injury. But his mind wandered back to the whole idea that Bumblebee didn't know what peacetime was, and he decided to allow him this. Ratchet had his way of relaxing, and Bumblebee had his own way as well.

But Ratchet was not relaxing. After all the discussion and all the practice runs, after planning who would be supervising and who would be doing the operation at what times, what Ratchet saw was constantly there, reminding him, mocking him.

He could have saved Bumblebee's voice.

He hadn't revealed it to the others. He had purposefully lied to the others to the state of the voicebox he had seen it in. He ran the numbers again and again, maybe Bumblebee would have had to get a replacement leg parts, which was doable, but he would have had his voice. And now Bumblebee didn't have it, would never have it, and would have something that everyone had approved only because it benefited the war.

Ratchet knew what hindsight was. He knew that this was part of the process. He knew that the top priority there had been in the triage facility, make sure that you fix the soldiers least injured so they can protect you, stabilize the rest so you have more soldiers, and the injuries to fix is those that need to be fixed in order to get them back into the battlefield.

And Ratchet knew that he had done the right thing given the situation. But because of that he was doing one of the more challenging surgeries he had done in centuries. And he knew that in time he would be able to look at the scout in the eyes after some time, but he could never ask him to forgive him.


	5. Recovery

The operation had been a success. The other doctors had gone back to their stations elsewhere in Autobot City or Iacon, leaving Ratchet and Fixit to do the adjustments to the voice box. Bumblebee was lying down on the slab, his hands gripping the sides as he did his best to still himself with his throat open.

The two doctors had known to expect that Bumblebee's first unprompted vocalization would be screaming, but hearing it, so desperate for relief of the sudden and never before experienced pain, had been a terrible experience for everyone. The operation had been a first of a kind, changing a fully developed but hopelessly shattered voicebox into a more subdued and downgraded one, and with any "first of a kind" operation, things happened. In this case the adjustments had crossed some wires, causing unexpected pain.

"We can stop now if you want." Ratchet said. He knew that physically Bumblebee could still continue, but he had to deal with his mental health as well. This required Bumblebee to trust the doctors, and continuing this while he was under duress would only make things worse.

But Bumblebee just shook his head, despite the fact that short key phrases, including "yes" and "no", had been the first words that Bumblebee had been taught to do, and to do it without pain. Ratchet was not quite confident given the non-verbal communication, but he looked up to Fixit and nodded. If Bumblebee wanted to continue, he wasn't going to disappoint him.

"Very well." Ratchet said and changed the text on the overhead monitor. It was just basic sounds, nothing coherent. Fixit went back into the routine, using the minicon shorthand to say those sounds while another display showed how the voicebox worked as the sounds were being uttered. And if everything went right, Bumblebee could repeat those sounds without any issues. But with any Firsts, there were growing pains. This time there was no pain, but Bumblebee's newly rebuilt simple voicebox seemed to stutter endlessly on the middle of the sound.

"I see it." Fixit said, going back into the adjustments, nudging a connection just so and the stutter died. "Try again." Fixit said, repeating the sounds.

This continued for a while, with occasional pain and spasms but none that compared to the first one. It appeared that Bumblebee had reacted more in surprise than actual pain the first time around. Ratchet was the one to call it quits. Even though neither Fixit nor Bumblebee showed any signs of being tired, Ratchet knew better. Bumblebee would continue until he would be forced into recharge. Fixit was doing his best to make sure that Bumblebee was adjusting, and wanted to continue if Bumblebee was still up for it. It was easy enough to close up the access to the inside of the voicebox, and to lock the opening in the neck itself. It felt barbaric to be doing this to him, but it couldn't be avoided. Not if Bumblebee was to survive in the future as a scout, instead of dying very soon as a warrior.

"This is what you can safely say." Ratchet said and handed Bumblebee a datapad. "I would though hold off on saying anything until we're done. You might end up running your mouth and say something we've not adjusted you to. We'll continue tomorrow."

Ratchet had already turned around but then he heard something unexpected in the minicon language. It wasn't Fixit's voice, so he turned around and looked at Bumblebee.

"I'm just doing my job." Ratchet said, still feeling sore from not saving Bumblebee's voice in the first place. No asking for forgiveness, no taking any thanks.

"You're welcome." Fixit said, accepting the thanks for both of them. Bumblebee looked slightly on the pad and then asked. It was strange to hear him speak in this language of whistles and beeps. Ratchet had felt that the minicon shorthand didn't lend much to variety, but hearing Bumblebee speaking it, he colored it with his own personality. And the expressiveness of his body language also added to the speech, giving his own kind of unique spin on it.

"At least two more sessions." Ratchet answered. "One or two more if we run into problems." He looked to Bumblebee, who seemed to want to say something but couldn't.

"If you're wondering if there are going to be problems, what I can tell you is that you're doing great." Ratchet said. He saw Bumblebee relax with those words, and if he had been wanting to ask something else it wasn't important enough now. Bumblebee moved his servos in an exploratory manner and did few punches into the air. He was apparently a bit restless after laying down on the slab for the whole day.

"Just be careful." Ratchet said, knowing that Bumblebee was eager to go back into sparring, to keep himself in shape. "Let your sparring partners know not to go for the neck. We've spent enough time and resources into it, I do not want to see it being undone so soon."

And Bumblebee laughed.

It was low and careful, but it was a laugh. Bumblebee was on the mend, and Ratchet allowed himself to smile as Bumblebee headed out.

"See, it's not that bad." Fixit said. "He's adjusting, but he is also careful."

"I know." Ratchet said as he looked over tomorrow's program. "How's his accent?" He asked Fixit.

"Thick enough to make exclusive shorthand-speakers want to make him repeat himself." Fixit said. "But you can understand him well enough despite that."

"So we do not need to work on that at least." Ratchet said. "We're still going to have a lot of work ahead of us, though I can't wait to get back into regular duties."

"You're still helping." Fixit said, not quite getting why Ratchet wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. "Bumblebee is on the mend, and he's taking it well. I recall that you worked together before?" Fixit asked.

"Briefly." Ratchet said. "I was with Prime when Bumblebee gave him the message that Zeta Prime had died. We then had a hard time going through Iacon and restore the communication network. Scouts like Bumblebee were invaluable at that time."

"And they're invaluable now." Fixit said.

"I know." Ratchet chuckled. "I thought the stories about Prowl's table-flipping habits were just stories until I witnessed it in person. It was when Prowl got the news that he lost Blurr, his personal scout, to the Wreckers."

"Tell me you got that on tape. There is only one video of him flipping a table, and it is brilliant!" Fixit laughed. Ratchet couldn't help but to join in as well.


	6. Attack

Today's session had gone exceptionally well. In fact Bumblebee had picked up all vocalizations that he needed in order to communicate properly. There were no more flashes of pain or stuttering or what was complete failure to speak the sounds. Tomorrow Fixit could go straight to doing minor adjustments and make sure that the accent was just an accent and not some sort of failure of the newly rebuilt voicebox, and perhaps he could even improve the accent to make it clearer. Mechs could understand him, but it was better to be clearly heard rather than having anyone have to spend precious seconds to parse his accent and what he was saying.

Right now Ratchet was on "sparring watch". A part of the hospital, once a waiting room for any close friends or endura of patients, had been converted into a sparring room for the smattering of guards and recovering patients. Of the many things that the war had changed, this was one of the changes that were to the worse. Guards, patients ready to fight the moment they got back to the field. No friends that could be spared from the battlefield to tend to their friends. Mechs too afraid to have close ties to others, not willing to live knowing their endura might be dead within days.

Ratchet tended to one of the guards who had been a bit too enthusiastic and had gotten his arm injured by an equally energetic minicon. He saw that Bumblebee was still sparring with one of the regular-sized guards, he had made a full physical recovery some time ago, but now he was honing his fighting skills again. He didn't have them complete given his status as a scout but he was quite good for someone of his class. Ratchet still focused on his patient, making sure that he wasn't going to let him go back with an injury that could get worse. Though he would have wanted the mech to rest for at least a day he knew that the mech wouldn't accept that. So he did what he could do best, fix them and let them go on their way. At least he wasn't fixing a voicebox this time.

After tending to the guard Ratchet went back to the watch. Bumblebee had quit sparring some time ago and was resting for a bit, watching the others. Right now the most visual battle was between two minicon beastformers, neither really getting a real advantage over the other even though everything seemed to indicate they were really going for each other spark. But Ratchet had seen enough fights to know that neither of them would inflict serious injury on the other or anyone they might target.

"Everyone on Deck!" Trailcutter's voice boomed through the intercom. "We got Cons on attack vector!" He was the one in charge of security in the hospital after he had nearly suffered a spark failure containing a high-yield explosive with his forcefields on the battlefield. Guarding a hospital enabled him to continue working while on the slow road of recovery.

"They're attacking a medical facility?" Ratchet asked no one in particular, alarmed by what he was hearing.

"We got a shipment of medical supplies recently, it is possible they're after that." Sunder said. Bumblebee joined in the conversation with a specific request. "Sure, I'll give you the codes so you know what's going on." Sunder answered and sent to both Ratchet and Bumblebee the com codes to access the guard chatter. Bumblebee apparently was going to join and nothing was going to stop him.

"Bumblebee, you better come with me." Ratchet said, which earned a disappointed response. "No, we need to transfer the patients to a secure location. You're not part of the guards here like how I'm not one of the regular staff here. Trailcutter might not know what to do with you."

Bumblebee nodded, though his mood did not get any better. But it looked like that Trailcutter had plans in place for something like this, and already guards and doctors were wheeling patients to more secure locations. Trailcutter was nowhere to be seen but he was heard occasionally on the chatter, giving orders.

And then the explosion was heard.

_Trailcutter: "Where?!"  
Unknown1: "South wing, corridor 15B. They're coming in!"  
Trailcutter: "Delta, you're closest, go and meet them!"_

Bumblebee joined in, announcing his presence on the chatter and that he was going to join as well. There weren't any protests from Trailcutter or anyone else. Ratchet didn't even say anything to Bumblebee before the scout left. With the patients and the doctors not trained for combat secure, Ratchet headed back out. He quickly checked out a map of the facility and noted the location of the explosion and the location of the supplies. They were pretty far from each other.

_Ratchet: "What are they after?"  
Unknown1: "We're holding them at bay for now. We've not heard any orders from their side."_

Something didn't feel right. Ratchet quickly changed to his ambulance mode and drove towards storage. Those supplies were precious and everyone wanted them. Attacking a medical facility was something that just wasn't done. In fact it was always more advantageous for the enemy that the injured were alive. That meant more resources to heal them while less resources were spent on the battle field. But the Decepticons had done the unthinkable before, several times in fact.

And as Ratchet turned down to a corridor he saw Decepticons in the distance. He quickly transformed to turn around as quickly as possible and ducked to where he had come from. He was at a disadvantage, but he knew where to go to flank them. But that depended on if they were going to stay put or not.

_Ratchet: "I found Cons. Hallway 29Q."  
Trailcutter: "Alpha, meet up with Ratchet!"  
Unknown2: "How did they get this deep in?"  
Trailcutter: "Once they've been dealt with we find out."_

Ratchet considered the chatter. It was right, this was deep inside the hospital, where anyone would have to go through several manned checkpoints to get this far in. It had been only minutes since the initial attack and none of them would have been able to get this far in within that time frame. There was something missing.

And Ratchet heard the sound of footsteps approaching, from the corridor he had retreated from. With his blades at the ready, he waited by the corner, stilling his fans so he wouldn't make any noise.

Ratchet had the element of surprise. It took him only a moment to confirm that it was a con. And the Decepticon had not expected Ratchet to be so close, and even though Ratchet had hesitated to prevent friendly fire, Ratchet was still ahead. He drove his blades into the con's spark chamber, killing him instantly. One blade withdrew while he kept the body of the Con ahead of him as a shield against any other incoming fire. The other two were a bit of a distance away, far enough that approaching them, shield or not would be suicide. Ratchet didn't have any long-range weapons.

"Debris have located the target." One of the cons said.

Ratchet didn't freeze. He quickly ducked back, released the corpse, transformed and retreated immediately.

_Ratchet: "I'm their objective!"  
Trailcutter: "Where are you?!"  
Ratchet: "I'm heading towards Section 4, altmode."  
Trailcutter: "Alpha! Protect Ratchet! I'll join you!"_

And Bumblebee also joined in the chatter, announcing he would be joining them as well. Ratchet figured he felt a bit guilty for leaving Ratchet to join the fight. But any other thoughts were pushed aside as Ratchet realized he was being chased. Debris, either one of the cons or the team of cons, were hot on his tail. And now he heard an engine ahead of him, big, heavy.

Ratchet barely contained his relief when he saw Trailcutter coming. The head of security quickly transformed to his robot mode and with a quick gesture with his hands he erected a forcefield, encasing the Decepticons in a forcefield bubble.

"Ratchet, you okay?" Trailcutter asked as studying the Decepticons.

"They didn't touch me." Ratchet said and looked at the Decepticons as well. "They're genericons." Ratchet said as he identified their rankings.

"I noticed." Trailcutter said. "Who's leading this op?" He asked the Decepticons, but no answer came.

Then everything happened in an instant. The genericons had been avoiding looking directly at Ratchet and Trailcutter, but one of them raised his head and -

Was looking behind Ratchet and Trailcutter?

Ratchet was about to turn around when he heard a yell of alarm in minicon shorthand, not Bumblebee's voice though. But the cry of alarm came too late, he saw the blaster fire aimed at Trailcutter -

Who had reacted in time, raising a forcefield to protect his back but as he did that he dropped the forcefield around the genericons, unable to maintain both. He reached to Ratchet -

But before Ratchet could react he felt strong arms enveloping him, crushing him. The arms he recognized instantly that of a seeker, painted in purple colors.

And then everyone disappeared.

No, Ratchet realized they hadn't disappeared. He and the Con that had him trapped were elsewhere.

_Ratchet: "Hallway 26R!"  
Trailcutter: "Skywarp has Ratchet, find him!"_

"No you don't you idiot." Skywarp said and threw Ratchet to the adjacent wall. Ratchet groaned in pain and couldn't recover before the next blow came. He drew out his swords and slashed at the seeker's arm. If the seeker was in pain then he wasn't showing it. Ratchet heard a minicon voice coming just around the corner, and he recognized the voice now.

Skywarp had heard it as well and had his blaster at the ready, aimed downwards. But he hesitated as the mech he was waiting for came around the corner, far larger than he had anticipated.

Bumblebee slammed into Skywarp, still in his vehicle mode. Seemingly in an instant he transformed, still on top of Skywarp and he pelted him. Ratchet went back to his feet and transformed, seeking to escape. He was the target, and above all he couldn't let himself get captured, even though it meant leaving Bumblebee behind.

Except Skywarp appeared directly in front of him. Ratchet didn't have any time to transform back into robot mode, so he crashed into the seeker. He heard Bumblebee approaching, trying to say something but in his panic the accent became much heavier to the point where Ratchet couldn't understand him at all.

He felt it a bit strange how his mind quickly filed that little piece of information to use tomorrow during adjustment on the voicebox. But those thoughts were quickly brushed aside as the seeker fired at Bumblebee. Ratchet saw the yellow scout being flung back by the shot of the powerful scatter blaster, and how he was lying down, trembling.

"Bumblebee!" Ratchet yelled and sought to go to the scout. Not again. He had failed his voice by Primus he was not going to fail his life as well. But the seeker's arms grabbed him, and Bumblebee disappeared right in front of Ratchet's optics.

_Ratchet: "Bumblebee is down in 26R!"  
Trailcutter: "Got it. Where are you?"_

Ratchet couldn't see where he was and he was assaulted with a feeling of nausea as Skywarp ||| _Where Ratchet?!_ ||| teleported them again. Desperate to figure out where he was Ratchet ||| _Does anyone have a fix on Ratchet's location?_ ||| looked around, but whenever he thought he had seen a room number ||| _Ratchet! Where are you?_ ||| or hallway markings they were transported. Ratchet struggled against Skywarp's grip but the ||| _Ratchet! Answer me!_ |||disorientation made him weaker. Apparently Skywarp was not affected by it or he had learned to tune it out.

_Ratchet: "Rooftops!"_

At least that was instantly recognized location. He looked around but there was no one. Skywarp still had him in a vice grip and it hurt badly to struggle. But Ratchet still continued to resist, attempting to escape. Skywarp was still and was looking up. As Ratchet continued to fight against the grip he looked up as well. There was a Decepticon dropship above. Far above.

"No!" Ratchet yelled as he realized just how close Skywarp was to actually capture him. If he got to the dropship then -

The scenery changed again. Cramped quarters, surrounded by Decepticons, sounds of a powerful engine spooling up, and then blasting as the vessel accelerated.

"Lights out!" Someone yelled as Ratchet's head was gripped, and then slammed repeatedly down on the floor until Ratchet couldn't feel anything or think at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm using the Trailcutter name because it looks like he hasn't been given the 'Breaker name in the Aligned continuity.
> 
> I say that at the same time Skywarp has his teleporting ability that is absent in WFC + amazingly enough he seems to possess enough intelligence to lead an op.


	7. In Chains

Ratchet had come to his senses some time ago, only to be too weak to resist was he was hauled to a holding cell. But he did pay attention to how he was being chained. He was being held up against the wall, the energon chains wrapped so that while Ratchet couldn't make decent contact with the floor his arms were spared the pressure of holding up his weight, the chains more wrapped around his chest. Harder to get out of. Legs were left free, but Ratchet was too high up in the air to rest on his legs. Which made full recharge impossible. Only the tip of his feet could really touch the floor which tortured him to be so close to relieve some of the weight off his chest but he couldn't.

Ratchet wasn't sure how long time passed, his internal chronometer had either malfunctioned or had been sabotaged. But being alone gave him some time to think. He couldn't break the energon chains easily. If he had been chained by his arms he could have tried to dislocate his arms to escape but with his chest wrapped he couldn't do anything without some serious injuries to his internal systems.

The second topic that was on his mind was why he had been taken. Obviously the objective had been him. Teams, with the help of Skywarp's teleporting abilities, had been put in key places where he could have been. And then he wasn't really supposed to be at the minicon hospital, his permanent post was at the Deltaran Medical Facility, which was much more defensible and deep inside Autobot territory.

And Ratchet was valuable. He didn't sit in any military or intelligence meetings, but his presence in the Autobots' upper ranks allowed him to hear things, sometimes before they should be heard by regular bots. But he didn't have any current intelligence, military or otherwise. And once it would be demonstrated he was useless for interrogation, he had to hope they wanted him for something else or his spark would be snuffed.

But soon enough he couldn't think of anything that could divert him from the issue he was most worried about. Bumblebee. Had the scout died by Skywarp's hands? Had all his efforts been for naught? Had the scout really died trying to defend him? He knew that there was actually a slim chance at that happening given that this happened at a hospital, and Bumblebee had taken worse injuries far away from any medical facilities. But those thought still gnawed at him. He had failed Bumblebee and couldn't ask for forgiveness for that. If Bumblebee had died or crippled defending him, then he could never forgive himself. He was the one supposed to save others.

More time passed, Ratchet didn't know how long. But the monotony of nothing was broken as the doors to his cell opened. Ratchet looked up to see Starscream. Of course. Skywarp couldn't have planned this alone. Ratchet had figured that much, but he thought that there would be some other seeker than Starscream doing this. Thundercracker or Slipstream maybe, but not Starscream.

"Comfortable Doctor?" Starscream said in his usual sly tone. Ratchet didn't say anything, he only frowned in response. But it didn't seem to knock Starscream off balance.

"I do hope you're enjoying our hospitality. If not, I hope you'll remember next time you move from the D.M.F. you should get some proper protection detail instead of relying on minicons and has-beens. That is if there will be a next time."

Ratchet didn't answer. He just looked at Starscream. He recalled from last time just how much Starscream liked to gloat, run his mouth without realizing what he was saying. But that Starscream wasn't asking any questions, nor was he accompanied by Vortex or any other interrogator worried Ratchet. They didn't want him for any military intelligence, there was something else going on. And that Ratchet didn't know what it was worried him.

Ratchet's lack of answer was enough to get a response from Starscream. Ratchet saw that self-assured smirk turn into a slight frown just for a fragment of a second. And Ratchet couldn't help but to smirk in response, happy to get even under Starscream's plating and annoy him. 

"Having a bit of fun, are we?" Starscream collected himself quickly and grabbed Ratchet's jaw, jerking it to the side. Ratchet didn't even flinch or groan in pain. He just stared at Starscream, his smirk long gone now.

"Why am I here?" Ratchet asked, tired of Starscream's game. He just glared at the seeker, the same one who had disabled Bumblebee to begin with. That very thought made him jerk his arms ever so slightly, wanting to pound that seeker into sheet metal.

"Just some old fashioned prisoner exchange, nothing much more to it." Starscream easily surrendered the information without much care. They weren't after any information about the Autobot preparedness or strength. Ratchet was a valuable asset as just himself. He wasn't sure if it made him feel better or not. But he knew that no matter how lowly prisoner the Decepticons would ask in exchange for him, the Autobots wouldn't comply. They would just invite more trouble for it.

But they would try to get him out. Ratchet didn't know what Starscream was banking on. Was he looking for actual prisoner exchange, or perhaps for the skilled squad that would surely be sent to free Ratchet? Or maybe the Autobots would go for the exchange. Ratchet was well aware of how much value everyone put in him and his work. Perhaps they thought he was worth whatever price the Decepticons would ask for him.

Nothing of this sounded good. Ratchet recalled that the high-profile Decepticons the Autobots had taken hostage, Conduit, Kaon, Flatline and Rampart were among them. All of them some that they wouldn't want to let go, not in exchange for anyone, even him.

Ratchet figured that his legs had been left unchained to add onto his torture. Now he wanted to make Starscream regret that. In a quick move he swung his legs to kick Starscream. But since he couldn't get a proper swing the kick was weak and not even enough to trip Starscream over.

"Big mistake!" Starscream yelled and grabbed around Ratchet's throat. Ratchet felt those sharp clawed fingers of his close to important fuel lines, and he suppressed his longing to smirk. Starscream couldn't kill him, he couldn't harm him to begin with. There was no proof ready that would prove that Ratchet was still alive and unharmed.

And Starscream let go, but not before flicking his hand upwards, gouging one of Ratchet's sensitive chevrons. Ratchet suppressed any cry of pain and just continued glaring at Starscream as he left the cell.

"Secure his legs." Starscream said to the guards outside. Ratchet put up a token resistance but the threat of an electric shock from a shock prod was enough for Ratchet to not try too hard since the end result would be the same. At least now he didn't have to try anymore to find footing, the energon chains now preventing any contact with the ground.

Ratchet still felt his damaged chronometer. The monotony of his cell, with no contact to the outside world and unable to recharge there was no good way for Ratchet to keep time. Ratchet kept himself busy as recalling all patients he had treated, what they had been suffering from and how he treated them. All of them recalled one at a time in a slow and meticulous method. Ratchet was somewhere after he had gotten the privilege to treat the Primes but before the war when the doors opened again. Ratchet didn't recognize the Decepticon in front of him. He just glared at him as he entered and the doors closed behind him. The Decepticon looked back to check out the doors and the cell before turning around, his colors and shape seemingly dissolving as they were replaced.

"Mirage?" Ratchet asked as he Decepticon coalesced into someone he recognized. He writhed in the energon chains, hoping to get out of them. And now with an Autobot in front of him his changes had risen from none to at least something. "Mirage, aren't you sight for sore optics." He said low.

Mirage frowned slightly. "I hope you knew that this cell was soundproof before you spoke." He said. A flash of fear went through Ratchet, but it didn't last as Mirage gave a placating look. "Don't worry, it's is." Mirage said.

"Alright, what's the plan?" Ratchet asked, he tested the chains again in a silent plea for release.

"I'm sorry Ratchet, it isn't going to be that easy." Mirage said. "I can't use the holograph on others than me for any long periods, and your cell is too deep in."

"No way to fight out of here?" Ratchet asked, no longer struggling as he realized he was going to stay in the energon chains.

"We would have to call in the Wreckers." Mirage said. "You got a compartment they overlooked?" He asked as he reached into one of his own compartments and brought up a small object.

"I don't know, I was in stasis lock most of the time." Ratchet said, but tested some of the compartments he had, checking for any damage. Some of them had been pried open recently. "Mirage, I have to ask -" Mirage had been checking the compartments as well but he paused and looked at Ratchet, waiting.

"Did anyone die in the attack?" Ratchet asked. "Bumblebee -"

"No one died." Mirage quickly answered. "And Bumblebee just got a bit of a shock, no serious injuries other than his voicebox glitching but Fixit got that covered within minutes. He begged to help with your rescue."

Ratchet relaxed as well as he could in his situation, having not realized just how tense he had been. "Poor kid probably thinks it is his fault." He said. He then noticed one of the smaller compartments opening smoothly without any glitch or anything else that could indicate it being pried open. "Here." Ratchet said.

"Good. With this tracker we'll be able to confirm you're at the exchange spot." Mirage said and put it in and secured it. Ratchet closed the compartment. 

"So you're going to go through with this prisoner exchange?" Ratchet narrowed his optics.

"Of course not." Mirage shook his head. "But it looks like they're really wanting to go through with this, I've not seen a prisoner as snugly tied up as this. Someone took real good care to make sure you wouldn't dislocate a limb." Though he looked at Ratchet's face, seeing the deep scratch on the chevron. "Too bad about your -" Mirage tapped above one of his eyes.

"I know." Ratchet said a bit annoyed, he still felt the injury but he couldn't see how bad it looked like. "I don't know why I'm being coddled. All I know is that Starscream is leading this exchange. Whom are they asking in return?"

"Flatline." Mirage said. "Look, I don't have much time. I have to go back before anyone realizes something is amiss. I got the tracker on you, and we're not going to leave you behind with the cons."

"I know." Ratchet nodded, and saw Mirage changing his colors and shape again, back to the Decepticon he had been when he had entered. Without even doing any preparations he exited the cell. Ratchet was left alone, again.


	8. Choice

Ratchet didn't know how long time had passed since he slipped into light stasis lock. Not a proper recharge, impossible with how he was. He knew of the problems associated with a broken chronometer, but being aware of a whole block of time just not being there in his mind, and his body aching from the stasis lock was frightening enough. How long had he really been chained up? He knew that under some circumstances a stasis lock could last thousands of years. It felt silly to even entertain that idea but right now Ratchet felt that it was a legitimate concern.

But his thinking process managed to catch up with his body. No, it was impossible he had been forgotten like that, kept alone for this long time. Mirage had come, he still had the tracker. He opened up the compartment again to make sure that it was there, that Mirage coming to him hadn't been some sort of hallucination. The tracker was still there, thankfully enough. There was hope.

Ratchet tried to access his internal diagnostics but it didn't work, probably disconnected intentionally. So he just turned inwardly and listened to his own body. He identified pumps that needed attention, vents that were sounding ragged, filters that were clogged. He still wished to see the state his chevron was in. It was purely cosmetic but having Mirage point out that specifically made Ratchet wonder just what kind of injury Starscream had inflicted on him, and that just on a whim.

After identifying everything that was wrong with his internal systems he went on listing what he would have to do once he was out and back to the Autobots, what needed tuning, what needed replacement, what needed oiling and so and so. But his time alone with his thoughts was cut short as the doors opened again. Ratchet was very well aware that it couldn't be the Wreckers or Mirage again, so he just glared at the visitor.

It was Starscream again. Ratchet felt a bit insulted that he wasn't a worthy enough visitor to warrant a visit from Megatron, but then again Starscream was pretty high up in the Decepticon ranks. Ratchet kept back any impulse to start saying something, he was just silent, waiting for Starscream to say whatever he wanted to say.

"Feeling a bit uncomfortable?" Starscream asked, but was not met with any answer from Ratchet. He seemed to expect that and came a bit closer. Ratchet twitched his legs deliberately, he wanted to kick Starscream again and he wanted that seeker to know it. But that only elicited a smile from the Seeker. 

"I see you got a death wish Autobot." Starscream said. "But that is not going to be an option for you."

There was something about that voice, the tone of it, that Ratchet didn't feel good about. It was like Starscream was telling him that death would be the best thing that could happen to him, but that was not an option. The Decepticons were not looking for an honest hostage exchange. Ratchet had never harbored any illusion that it would be the case, but something didn't mesh.

And it looked like that Ratchet couldn't hide his confusion and fear. Starscream laughed. That was enough to anger Ratchet, who glared at Starscream, unable to do anything else.

"Right now there are only two options for you, Doctor." Starscream raised two fingers and wiggled them right in Ratchet's face. "But at least you get to choose which one."

As tempting as it had been to bite Starscream's fingers off his hand he didn't. He wasn't suicidal, despite the sheer amount of satisfaction it would bring him. So he just kept up his glare, waiting for Starscream to continue.

"We're not going to bring someone with your skill back to the Autobots -" Which was what Ratchet had figured some time ago. There had been successful prisoner exchanges in the past, but they were of just regular troops, none in high standings in either faction or army. Ratchet knew he wasn't going to be breaking any records.

"- but we might bring them back your empty living shell."

It was how Starscream said it. Ratchet was alarmed but he tried to hide any reaction to it. But it seemed that something had broken through his stoic body language as Starscream did the impossible and smiled wider than before. "While the Cortical psychic patch is still in development, there is this glitch in it. A bit too easy to erase any memories or knowledge." Starscream ran his hand over Ratchet's face, who tried to shy away but couldn't. "Just a tiny nudge and pop!" Ratchet screamed as the broken chevron snapped off in a quick pull from Starscream. "And it is gone."

Ratchet whimpered low from the unexpected pain, having no idea that the chevron had been that bad. "Second option," Starscream continued, clearly having no empathy for his prisoner, "purely a cosmetic change." He tapped the autobrand on Ratchet's left side. "Join us, join the Decepticon cause, and you will still be you. Reject, and the Autobots get your body back, but they will never get the real you back."

Ratchet didn't answer. He looked at Starscream, but he couldn't keep up the glare like before. The chevron was perhaps a decorative part of him and he could get it replaced easily, but it still had neuro endings in it, and having it snapped off like that hurt. He felt its absence worse than he had felt the scratch.

"You got an hour to decide which option you want." Starscream said and threw the snapped off piece down on the floor where Ratchet could see it. He left without saying anything else.

When he was sure he was alone Ratchet slumped in his chains. It didn't last long as the chains pinched him so he had to wiggle a bit to adjust, to find some more comfortable arrangement of the chains. Once he found something he figured was the best he could get he tried to relax. Starscream had been right, death was something that he desired more than the options he had in front of him. At least death meant he wouldn't decide on any of those. A quick thought went through him, searching for any ways to commit suicide. But he knew that even if he would find some way he couldn't do it.

If what Starscream said about the Cortical psychic patch was true, then it was worse than death. He wouldn't have his memories or his medical knowledge but returned to the Autobots. Ratchet had never been a fighter but he had spent millions of years studying the cybertronian body. With the war going on they couldn't spend any time teaching him everything again. And without memories he would be dead to those that had known him. The fastest training available was training in fighting, so Ratchet was faced with the fact that if this happened, the only way he would be of use to the Autobot cause was to be one of the several fighters there were.

And if he joined with the Decepticons he would be dead to them anyway.

Either way he would have failed his friends, and failed the Autobots. He still felt the sting of pain from when he failed Bumblebee, a scout he had met only few times. And if that hurt that much, how much would it hurt to fail everyone else?

Ratchet knew what he was going to say to Starscream in an hour. Or whatever time he had remaining, which was impossible to tell without a functioning chronometer. Ratchet again looked at the compartment, seeing the tracker Mirage had put on him. Hope.


	9. Rescue

"So then, what's your answer?" Starscream asked Ratchet. This time he wasn't alone. He was escorted by two other Decepticons, neither of which Ratchet recognized. Ratchet just glared at Starscream, afraid of what was going to happen to him. The Autobots knew where he was, but it was not going to matter if they couldn't rescue him in time.

"I will never join the Decepticons." Ratchet said.

"So you choose loyalty to a dying cause over your own memories and friends." Starscream shrugged. But Ratchet knew that this was just part of an act. Starscream reveled in knowing just what to say or knowing what others would do before they themselves knew. It was clear that Starscream knew that Ratchet would never betray the Autobots like that, or even pretend to be a Decepticon so he could escape at a later time. Ratchet doubted that even if he had wanted to join it would have never been an option.

"Very well." Starscream said. The two Decepticon guards approached Ratchet who looked at them warily. But they just disabled the energon chains and Ratchet fell on the floor. His arms were stiff after all that time and he hadn't been able to use them to prevent the fall. He felt something latch on his back, and in a flash he realized what it had been. He tried to draw out his blades but nothing happened. Inhibitor claw, prevented access to weaponry and to the transformation cog. Apparently they were making sure that Ratchet wouldn't fight back or try to escape. Ratchet had a look of panic as he looked at Starscream, who just laughed low. "Ah, so you do know what it is." He said, then looked at the two Decepticons. "Pick him up and bring him to the transport." He said and left.

Ratchet tried to resist but a quick show of the weaponry the two Decepticons had was enough to take the wind away from him. Ratchet could barely walk, and the two had to support him by his sore arms to get him anywhere. Ratchet felt how each step he took was getting stronger, but he mentally dialed it down a bit. He wasn't sure how much time he had left, and he wanted to get this done as slowly as possible and keep his actual strength under wraps. But with the inhibitor claw he couldn't fight properly or transform, diminishing his chances of escape to near nothing.

Ratchet had regained some of his strength as they came to the transport. It was a grounder troop transport, not a cybertronian but a construction. Big enough to carry the Wreckers at least. Ratchet was guided inside of it and once inside he was pushed to a corner furthest away from the doors. Cuffs were put on him even though that he was defenseless because of the inhibitor claw. Ratchet just sat down, tested the cuffs just barely and waited for whatever that was going to happen. Starscream was not around, probably taking the scenic route in the air.

At least whatever they were going to do to them it was elsewhere. Ratchet recalled there being some literature about the Cortical psychic patch, but that was purely theoretical. Apparently the Decepticons had continued that research. If it would work as intended it would be very bad news. Right now it looked like that there had indeed been some testing done, because how else would Starscream know using it would cause memory loss.

Ratchet didn't test the strength of the cuffs. He was still pretending to be weaker than he was, waiting for any opportunity he could get. But apparently Ratchet was feared enough that there was a full complement of Decepticons in the transport with him. Ratchet reached up his hands to his face, which caused three of the Decepticons to look at him. Apparently none of them were relaxing one bit, which felt a bit odd. But Ratchet just stroked above his optic, feeling the broken chevron. It didn't hurt as much as before, but he was always aware of the injury and the loss. Cosmetic or not he didn't like the feeling.

The drive was long, and with no way to see out Ratchet didn't know where he was, where he was going, nor had he known where he had been kept. Ratchet wondered if something had changed given the alertness of his guards, but he didn't know what would happen if he were to speak or ask any questions. He dropped his hands back down, and that seemed to make his captor relax, but just a fraction.

And then the transport rocked. With his hands bounds Ratchet couldn't avoid falling down on the floor, but the Decepticons could better adjust. The Transport veered a bit before stopping completely. Ratchet tried to stand up, only to find a leg pinning him down and the hum of a weapon warming up just by his head. He carefully glanced up, seeing the Decepticon keeping an eye on the doors of the transport.

The Decepticons opened the doors and several of them went out. But the one that was keeping Ratchet at a gunpoint stayed behind with another one. Apparently someone was ready for this. 

And then the gunfire began. Ratchet saw his captor flinch, and that was his opening. Ratchet quickly moved his legs, doing a leg sweep to fell the Decepticon. It had been a mistake not to secure Ratchet's legs as well. Ratchet got on his feet and rammed the other 'con, crushing him against the wall of the transport. Ratchet quickly turned around to deal with the first one, only to stare down a gun barrel.

"Big mistake." For just a moment Ratchet thought the Decepticon had said that, but his mouth hadn't moved. And then he heard a shot of a gun. He didn't have the time to comprehend that it wasn't the Decepticon's weapon that had discharged, but it was the 'con that was killed. And another shot, now aimed at the other that Ratchet had attacked as well. Ratchet turned around to see him keel down, dead before hitting the floor.

"Told you we weren't going to leave you behind with the Decepticons." Ratchet turned to the source of the voice, even though he recognized it and he knew he wouldn't see the Autobot. 

"Mirage, I'm cuffed and clawed." Ratchet said and extended his hands forwards. Mirage dropped the invisibility hologram and quickly went to work on the cuffs.

"Inhibitor claw?" He asked.

"Yes, I don't have access to my weapons or alt-mode." Ratchet quickly said. The cuffs quickly snapped off, allowing Ratchet to finally move his arms properly. He headed towards the doors of the transport but Mirage jumped ahead.

"The claw will be a bit of a problem, they aren't designed to just pop right off without the right codes." Mirage said, and then an explosion rocked the transport. Mirage's alarmed look told Ratchet all that he needed to know, this wasn't one of their own. "Back, back!" Mirage called to Ratchet who backed away from the doors. He then heard a seeker. It had to be Starscream.

Mirage pushed Ratchet down, and then Ratchet felt everything becoming a bit fuzzy. He barely saw the doors, but he knew that the vague shape he saw entering belonged to Starscream. He couldn't say anything. Starscream only needed a moment to distract the others and then go for the main kill.

"Already finished him off? Good." Starscream said and quickly transformed, escaping incoming fire. Ratchet felt a bit of a confusion, wondering what was going on before he realized that Mirage could do more than be invisible or pretend to be someone else. And then he heard a high-pitched whine of a voice he had only recently familiarized himself with, screaming his name in the minicon language, and the familiar yellow scout entered with his gun raised as everything became clear again.

"Don't worry Bumblebee, just a bit of a trickery." Mirage said and helped Ratchet up. "It's too easy to con a 'con."


	10. Blame

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: It's a running joke in the comics that no one can remember or say Rung's name right when he's right there in the same room. I kind of go nuts with that joke here.

Ratchet ran his hand over the new chevron. He didn't feel a thing. His original part had been discarded where he had been held, so now he had to be content with a dull lifeless part. It looked like his old chevron, but it was just a piece of metal. At least First Aid managed to eliminate any phantom pains caused by having a missing part. Apart from few dents that was all the injuries he had received while imprisoned.

The inhibitor claw had been a different matter. It was made to be hard to remove to begin with, and Brainstorm had been very interested in getting a claw to study so destroying it had been out of the question. So its removal had been a harrowing experience for Ratchet, but they managed to remove it without permanent injuries.

And then there were of course the questions. Apparently everyone had different ideas on how they thought Ratchet had been treated. Despite Mirage's report which indicated that Ratchet had been unharmed aside from initial injuries and how he was bound, everyone thought there had been something else going on. A complete physical and Ratchet's insistence did little for those rumors and speculations.

"Do you blame Bumblebee for what happened?"

Ratchet looked up at the orange and white psychiatrist bot. His name escaped Ratchet at the moment even though this was the second session they had since Ratchet's rescue. Ratchet mentally called him Rong though he wasn't sure it was right. "Isn't this question kind of coming out of nowhere?" Ratchet asked.

"Not at all." The psy-ops bot said. "Could you tell me what role Bumblebee played in your capture?"

"None." Ratchet quickly answered. "I mean, he did go off to where the fighting was, but he came back when it was clear the Decepticons were after me. Bumblebee did his best to get me back and from what I heard he was devastated when it wasn't enough and he blamed himself. I don't need add more to his suffering by blaming him as well."

The psychiatrist leaned forwards, seemingly in thought but Ratchet felt that it was more of a tactical move. It was hard to be in one of those session and not begin to think of everything as a personal attack, especially since that mostly orange bot could stop him from returning to his duty as a doctor until he had given the all clear.

"In these sort of situations it is common for the victims to blame someone. But you've not blamed anyone for what happened to you. Not even your captors." The bot said. "You're smart enough to know that whomever you're blaming doesn't deserve it. That it is irrational to be thinking like that. Which is why you're not telling me."

"You're a bit too smart." Ratchet smiled awkwardly. "Ever think you should be an interrogator?" He asked with a low huff of amusement.

"The same question can be asked of you, since you're a master of the cybertronian body." Ratchet suddenly changed his mind about the bot's possible name and began calling him Wrung in his mind. "If it isn't Bumblebee you blame, then who is to blame? Those who captured Flatline or Kaon? Those who built the facility so it wasn't easily defended? The skywatch on duty that let the ship slip through?" The orange bot stopped for a fraction of a second. "Yourself?"

Ratchet couldn't help but react when he heard that. And it wasn't that he was reacting because he was offended, but because it was what he felt. And the psychiatrist saw that. He knew what the shift of body language meant. He knew the ugly truth. He knew that -

"It's not your fault." He said, cutting in on Ratchet's own thought process. "It is very common for the victims to blame themselves for what happened, especially in a situation like that."

"If I told you, it won't go outside this room? You won't tell anyone?" Ratchet quickly asked. If he was going to tell anyone about what happened, it had to happen now while he was brave or stupid enough to do it.

"Of course." The Autobot with that curiously unrememberable name said. 

"I could have fixed Bumblebee's voicebox." Ratchet said. "But instead he lost his voice. I was the one who brought up the possibility to adjust his voicebox so that he could speak the minicon shorthand. I was the one who recommended Fixit and his facility and staff. I was the reason for why I was there, in a facility with low defenses. All because I didn't save Bumblebee's voice."

"Was it intentional? Not to fix Bumblebee's voicebox?" The orange and white Autobot asked.

Ratchet slammed his hand on the table in front of him. "Of course not!" He shouted. "But if I had taken a closer look at him, thought things through -"

"You were treating Bumblebee at a triage facility not far away from a conflict zone." Rong, Wrung, Rang, Dang, whatever, said. "If I'm not mistaken the first priority in such situation is to get everyone back on their feet and fighting fit. Voicebox repairs wouldn't get a priority in that situation."

Silence. Neither of them spoke for a while.

"Ratchet, I'm going to let you return to you duties." The psychiatrist said, and Ratchet blinked at that in surprise. He thought he had blown his chances with his little outburst and admitting that he was blaming himself. "But it's under one condition."

"Of course." Ratchet said, understanding what was going on a bit better.

"I would like you to continue seeing me. I have no doubts you can continue doing your duties to the best of your ability, but there is the issue of you blaming yourself. If you fail to make your appointments I'll have you pulled from your duties."

"Of course." Ratchet was familiar with this kind of arrangement, having seen Fortress Maximus having to do the same thing. He knew the psy-ops specialist bot by reputation and he knew his influence. There was no empty threat behind his words.

"Let's continue then." Rung said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End
> 
> Thanks for reading, and here's a shoutout to the three subscribers to the story! Thanks! Whoever you are.


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